


Two Dads Club

by ant5b



Category: Darkwing Duck (Cartoon 1991), DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Adopted Children, Bullying, Crushes, First Meetings, Friendship, Minor Injuries, mentioned Homophobia, same-sex parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-14
Updated: 2019-11-14
Packaged: 2021-01-30 20:53:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21434539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ant5b/pseuds/ant5b
Summary: “Wait,” Gosalyn said, looking back at her in a flash. “You have two dads, too?”“That’s what I said, yes,” Violet replied mildly, but she was smiling as she folded her hands in her lap. “They’re professors of archaeology and literature, respectively.”“Wow!” Gosalyn said. “That sounds really boring.”
Relationships: Drake Mallard/Launchpad McQuack, Gosalyn Mallard/Violet Sabrewing
Comments: 18
Kudos: 367





	Two Dads Club

“Are you alright?”

Gosalyn broke her staring contest with the crack in the linoleum. There was a girl standing in front of her, a purple hummingbird with tight curly black hair billowing behind her head in a ponytail. In the hard plastic chair outside of the principal’s office, Gosalyn was just short enough to have to look up at her. 

“What?” Gosalyn said croakily. She hadn’t spoken since her screaming match with Chris Puckwing, and her knuckles still ached from when she’d punched him. 

“You looked despondent when I walked by earlier,” the girl replied. “You still do. Only now the bruising has worsened.”

Gosalyn reached up to prod at her cheek, wincing at the raw and tender feel of it. Something blue was shoved into her field of vision and she leaned back to see it more clearly. 

It was an ice pack, held in the outstretched hand of the girl. “It will help the swelling go down,” she said, and didn’t put her arm back down until Gosalyn had taken the ice pack from her. 

“Thanks,” Gosalyn mumbled, and hissed at the initial cold as it made contact with her cheek.

The girl surprised her again by hopping delicately into the seat beside her. 

“Viola, right?” Gosalyn hazarded a guess after a moment. “From Ms. Webra’s class?”

“It’s Violet, actually,” she replied. “And you’re Gosalyn Mallard.”

“It’s Mallard-McQuack, actually,” Gosalyn replied with an attempt at a smile. 

The silence between them lengthened and she went back to staring at the crack in the linoleum. From the other side of the principal's door one could hear the muffled dichotomy of Dad’s sharp voice and Pop’s low, relaxing timbre as they argued with the principal. Argued over her.

“Is it true you gave Chris Puckwing a black eye?” Violet asked. 

Gosalyn snorted without humor. “More liked _tried to._ I barely touched him, he was just being a big baby about it.”

“Did he do that in retaliation?” Violet said, frowning deeply. She was pointing at Gosalyn’s bruised cheek. 

“Um, no,” Gosalyn replied, clenching her eyes shut like that would make her disappear from this conversation. “I uh, I fell when I tried to punch him the first time.”

When Violet didn’t laugh at her she gradually opened her eyes again. Not only was Violet not laughing but she wasn’t smiling either. Rather, she looked pensive. 

“I’ve heard of your quicksilver temper but violence seems uncharacteristic of you, especially in a school setting,” Violet said. “May I ask what exactly Chris did to make you want to attack him?”

Gosalyn blinked for a moment, trying to keep the surprise off her face. Violet was the first person at school not only to assume that her actions were justified, but to actually ask for the justification. The teachers and school administrators had long since labeled Gosalyn a troublemaker, a reputation she did little to refute, but without realizing she’d apparently gotten to a point where they didn’t even bother to ask _ why _a sixth grader would try to attack a seventh grader twice her height. In their eyes it was just Gosalyn being Gosalyn, being a bad kid, and it was undoubtedly what they were telling her dads now. 

“It’s not like I _ wanted _to punch him and get in trouble,” she retorted, shrugging. “That would be stupid. He was just...he said some stuff I didn’t agree with.”

Violet cocked her head to the side. “What stuff?” she asked, sounding curious even in her monotone. 

Gosalyn hunched her shoulders, looking away. “Stuff about my dads,” she muttered. 

“Hm,” Violet said. 

Gosalyn braced herself, she didn’t know what for. Disgust? For Violet to just get up and walk away? Most of the school knew she had two dads ever since they became the only men to join the PTA other than Mr. Drake, Boyd’s dad. 

“I often garner unwanted commentary about my fathers as well,” Violet said, her voice quieter than Gosalyn had heard it yet. 

It took her a moment to process Violet’s words. 

“Wait,” Gosalyn said, looking back at her in a flash. “You have two dads, too?”

“That’s what I said, yes,” Violet replied mildly, but she was smiling as she folded her hands in her lap. “They’re professors of archaeology and literature, respectively.”

“Wow!” Gosalyn said. “That sounds really boring.”

Violet giggled, a brief break in composure that nonetheless made Gosalyn nearly flush with pride. “Maybe to some,” she allowed. “They’ve raised me since I was an infant. I’ve heard so many derogatory remarks about them throughout my life that I’m rather unaffected by them now. But you were only recently adopted, isn’t that right?”

Gosalyn diminished a bit. “Yeah. It’s only been about a year. And y’know, I’ve never had parents before. So maybe I’m just extra on the defensive but I don’t...I don’t like people saying awful things about my dads, especially when they don’t know anything about them or-or me.”

Violet scooted over a little closer, her large inquisitive eyes softened in sympathy. “It’s often those who are most ignorant who make the most hurtful comments.”

“Chris was saying that because I don’t have a mom, I’ll be ‘weird’. Like-like _ bad _ weird,” Gosalyn bit out, curling in on herself. She let the ice pack drop from her cheek and gripped it tightly between her hands, making her fingers go a bit numb with cold. In contrast, her eyes began burning with tears and she sniffed, unaccountably annoyed with herself. But once the tears started it was hard to get them to stop. “And he-he said some really bad things about my dads. That our family was _ wrong.” _

And hearing that, on the cusp of a night of patrol that ended with her dad in the hospital after getting thrown off a five story building, had been too much for Gosalyn. He might’ve gotten off relatively unhurt (for Drake standards) with only a broken arm, but it was a chilling reminder of how easily she could lose her fathers, just like she lost her grandpa. 

Violet’s attentive expression faltered as she looked at something over Gosalyn’s shoulder. That was all the warning Gosalyn had before her dad’s voice rose from behind her, sounding thin and shaken. 

“Gos, is that true?” 

Gosalyn whirled around, aghast, the evidence plain in the tears on her face. 

Drake was standing half in the open doorway to the principal’s office, looking devastated and almost small with his arm in a cast and hanging from its sling. Behind him, Launchpad’s expression was equally pained. 

“I...um,” Gosalyn replied shakily. “Which part?”

Though it was awkward with the cast, Drake came around and engulfed Gosalyn in a tight, one armed hug. Launchpad knelt down and wrapped his arms around both of them, and Gosalyn imagined that he could hold her broken pieces together through the strength of his embrace alone. 

“How long has this been going on?” Drake insisted the moment they pulled away. “Is this kid the only one who’s been saying this sort of thing to you? I swear, your principal didn’t say a word about anything like this going on, and he was talking about giving you detention for a month! For reacting to a bully! I’m going to give that guy a piece of my mind—” 

No one stopped Drake as he started in on his rant, or when he immediately got back up and stormed into the principal’s office anew. When he slammed the door shut behind him Gosalyn burst into a peal of giggles, which only brought on a small wave of fresh tears. 

“Let’s see if Dad doesn’t get me expelled or something now,” she said to Launchpad. 

He’d remained where he was, kneeling beside her chair. “Kiddo, why didn’t you tell us someone was bullying you?” asked, rubbing her arm gently. 

Gosalyn shrugged, looking at her shoes to avoid his gaze. “I dunno. I didn’t want you bother you and Dad, I guess. You’ve got the whole city to worry about, some kid saying mean stuff doesn’t really matter.”

“Hey,” Launchpad said firmly, ducking his head to catch her eye. “I don’t know how you got that idea in your head, but it’s not true. Nothing matters to us more than you, Gosalyn. You’re our daughter. We want to know when you’re happy or sad or hurt so we know when you need our help. What’s the city compared to that?”

“Well…” Gosalyn began. “I guess, but—” 

“I would listen to him if I were you,” Violet chimed in. “What he says is correct, and it will save the two of you a great deal of pointless back and forth.”

Gosalyn hadn’t even realized Violet had moved, but some point after her dads burst out of the office she’d climbed out of her chair to stand a few feet away, her back facing them. 

“Uh, Violet?” Gosalyn said quizzically. “What are you doing all the way over there?”

“I was attempting to give you privacy,” Violet said as she turned around. 

Launchpad expression lit up in recognition at the sight of her. “Hey! Vi!”

“Good to see you again, Mr. Mallard-McQuack,” she said.

“You and Gos know each other?” he asked. 

“Um,” Gosalyn said, hesitating now, because outside of Boyd very few of her peers would admit to any sort of association with her. And if Launchpad knew Violet, then she had to be best friends with the McDuck kids who went on life changing adventures every other day. Gosalyn’s dads barely let her stay in the Thunderquack when they went on patrol, and there was no way Violet would ever know that, or be impressed with Gosalyn at all. 

But Violet’s response was succinct and shocking. 

“Yes,” she said. “I’m her friend.”

At Gosalyn’s startled expression, Violet offered one of her small, rare smiles. 

The door to the principal’s office flew open again and Drake stalked out, still looking irated but now grimly proud as well. 

“Am I still in trouble?” Gosalyn asked at once. 

Drake leveled her with a look. “You punched a kid, of course you’re in trouble. But Mr. Puckwing is going to be serving your detentions instead, and you’ll have to apologize for punching him.”

“Is that my punishment?” she asked hopefully. 

“You’ve been suspended for a day,” Drake said. 

“Does that mean no school?” 

“That means you’re going to think about why fighting in school is wrong. And I’m going to teach you how to break the kid’s nose, next time.”

Launchpad chuckled, standing up. “I think today calls for ice cream on the way home. “What do you say, Gos?”

“Can my new friend come?” Gosalyn asked quickly. 

“New friend…?” Drake said slowly, and jumped a little when he spotted Violet. “Oh! Um, hello there!”

“Violet Sabrewing,” Violet said politely. “Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Mallard-McQuack,”

“Pleasure to meet you too, uh, kid.” 

“Can Violet come too, Dad?” Gosalyn begged. “She sat with me and gave me an ice pack for my cheek and she has two dads too and even though they sound really boring they sound really cool too!”

Drake blinked at the onslaught of information. “Um...yes? If her parents are okay with it.”

“I’ll contact them now,” Violet said serenely. She smiled at Gosalyn again as she pulled out her phone, and it was a small, secret thing that set Gosalyn’s stomach somersaulting. 

She found she didn’t mind the feeling. 


End file.
